Not Over Yet
by Calico45
Summary: Sequel to One Difference. Russia knew it was not over. It would never be over. Not until he won. The bet really was nothing but game to him, but maybe it was time to be serious when it was all only a phone call away.
1. Chapter 1

Not Over Yet

Part 1

Things had been going quite well since Ivan had lost the bet. Alfred would dare say it had been going great, even. He did not decrease his visits in the least or the general leering, but it was normal, like nothing had ever happened in the first place. On the other hand, everything had changed with Jackson. He was still his shy, subdued, and actor self, but he had been unable to escape the other nations. In fact, Germany himself broke his own rules and the entire globe minus Arthur, Alfred, Ivan, and Jackson had been waiting for the duo at their home. Jackson had originally been horrified, but after much coaxing and a little forcing he was introduced to all the nations. Since, he had grown to tolerate them for the most part and no longer hid from them, though he still refused to attend world meetings. That had not turned out to be much of a problem, though, seeing as all those concerned were more than happy to visit themselves. One such common visitor was Arthur, who began to rival both Matthew and Ivan in his appearances. It seems that everything did have a way of working itself out.

That had been exactly what Alfred had been thinking at the next world meeting. He was finally going to deliver his presentation that he had spent all that time on and was more than a little excited. Admittedly, he had forgotten all about it with all the events that had happened with Jackson and had to review well in advance to be ready for it, but he knew he could pull it off. Once more he had asked to go last because of its importance. He really wanted to leave an impression, and leaving the audience pursuing him wanting more seemed to be just the way to do it. It was almost his turn. He just had to wait until Arthur finished his speech on his opinions of current European Union activities. He had never been the best team player when it had come to the EU, so his speech was a little longer than most of feedback presentations that various nations did in accordance to random global events, and Alfred had been trying his best to be patient. It had been easy the day he had originally been going to give his presentation, but since then his nerves had been getting the best of them. He could not shake the feeling that this was just not the day to do it. It had been so bad that the morning of he had thought about calling in sick, but the meeting had been moved back to D.C. just for him and he was not the type to run away from his problems. He just had to be on his guard, that was all, or at least that was what he kept telling himself.

Arthur was finally starting to wrap up his speech. He had gotten a little more heated than what he liked on the matter, but the EU just could not do whatever it pleased. They were all individual nations after all, not simply regions or states. The meeting had been just as chaotic as usual, but when Arthur had stepped up to the podium he had made sure that everyone was paying attention, especially Alfred. He had figured that he would be a perfect backer since he paid for much of the EU's defense and the two were on particularly good terms lately. A part of him also wanted to make him understand that he was not just the only one that had something important to say. The crowd had begrudgingly paid attention and held their tongues, most just waiting for it to be over. Alfred had been one of those, but had made sure no one was none the wiser. Last thing he wanted was for them to figure out that he was nervous. That was when it happened. Arthur had been taking a breath before he was going to run through all his main points once more for good measure when _that_ ringtone began. It was déjà vu all over again.

"Sorry guys, it will be just a moment. Go on without me."

Alfred was out the door in seconds and the rest of the nations could only stare at it, waiting for him to return. It was Arthur that had started the silent wait when he could not bring himself to continue and it took only one look at his face for the feeling of déjà vu hit them. This was how it all began last time. It all being the discovery of a centuries old secret in the form of another persona of America. Surely Alfred would not have something like that up his sleeve again, right? They all did not have time to answer that question before Alfred was already present again, looking sheepish.

"It is nothing serious, but Jackson needs me. I really have to go. Rain check?" he chuckled humorlessly.

Arthur was not convinced, but before he could say anything Germany had already dismissed him with a hand gesture. The newly in charge host was about to be on the receiving end of a vicious glare before a buzzing caught everyone's attention once more. Russia. Russia was getting a phone call. The man had fished around in his pockets and pulled out a vibrating smart phone. The usual smile on his face was gone, but there was no frown either. His face was just blank.

"It seems Fredka is not the only one that has to go." he stated just as stoically and left.

This was Russia. He was creepy, childish, cryptic, violent, terrifying—not blank! He always had that smile on unless something messed with him enough for him to frown. There was never any in-betweens or simply nothing in its place. It was just wrong. Cue the crowd hysteria of the world ending.

"Ve! We should check on America." Italy cried out in the middle of the panic, catching everyone off guard.

The Italian airhead had finally suggested something that made sense.

"That is true." Germany explained, "Maybe their calls had something to do with each other. They have kept secrets together in the past."

Everyone shuddered at the implications. If this really was déjà vu, they wanted to catch it early. That meant someone had to visit Alfred and only _one _person could do it. If any more went it would give them away in an instant. The battle promptly began.

"I should go see him, he was my charge!" Arthur hissed.

Francis scoffed, "You visited him last time and we had to wait for Russia to reveal Jackson! You cannot be trusted, I will go."

"But none of you would have even noticed that it was Jackson calling him if I had not." he countered.

"Ve, but I came up with the idea!" insisted Italy.

"I should go as the secondary host."

"But only I am awesome enough, West!" screamed out Prussia.

"I am his brother, maybe I should go, eh—"

"Belt up! I am going and no one can stop me." snarled Arthur, heading for the door with his hastily gathered belongs in hand.

Francis was on him in seconds. With a battle cry he slammed into Arthur, grappling with his limbs to restrain him. The Frenchman soon enough had him in a stranglehold as they tumbled towards the ground. More nations joined the assault to pull them away from the door, but before anything could be done the Brit had clamped one hand on the doorknob. There was no removing him now. Even Germany could not pry his hand off the knob. He was going to be the only one of them to leave this room and visit Alfred if it killed him.

"Just open the door, West! None of _them_ will be able to run through it. Let a race decide who visits Alfred!" instructed Prussia, eyeing the pile of nations on top of Arthur with a smirk, "Tough luck, England."

Germany did as told and turned the knob. Or tried.

"I-it's locked!" he burst, suddenly kicking the wooden slab.

Normally when a door was kicked it would somewhat move, but this one was doing none of that. It was like he had kicked a safe—and felt like it, too, for that matter. The barrage began as everyone tried to take down the door. It was useless, even as nations.

"How is this possible, aru?" complained China.

No one could answer that. It took more than a little reinforcing to stop a nation and none of them had heard a thing. It should have been impossible. If they could not go out the door then what could they do? They were in a five-story building in the main meeting room on said fifth floor. No one wanted to attempt that, not even Arthur as desperate as he was. Blast it. This was a lot more complicated than the usual turmoil. Why would anyone even want to lock them in here, anyway? It did not make any sense. None of it did. Jackson called Alfred away and the Russia—Arthur immediately darted to the closest window and searched the streets. Plain as day, Russia stood at the road in front of the meeting place on his phone. It seems he noticed being spotted because his gaze connected with Arthur's and he waved. His face was still blank, but his eyes were emptier than that. Buzz. BUZZ. _BUZZ_! Arthur almost did not dare to look at his phone, but he soon found himself reading a text.

"'Enjoy each other's company, da?'"


	2. Chapter 2

Not Over Yet

Part 2

It was strange to say the least. In light of Russia's practical admittance of being the one that locked them in the meeting room, panic had once again seized the globe, only to be pacified very soon after. It seems that a good soul had thought it unusual that the world meeting was running over time, as it usually dismissed pretty early, and had gone up to check on the countries. There the man saw something rather odd: a metal pipe lodged against the door. Even this mortal man could tell that this was no normal pipe and quickly set about freeing the nations. Once they had all grasped what had happened, Arthur could only glare at the cylindrical thing. He was well skilled in dark arts and even he could not pinpoint what exactly was wrong with the object, but he had always suspected Russia's pipe to have been a gift from the devil himself. It gave off the same murderous aura as the Russian. Of course, that made it all the stranger that he had been willing to abandon it for this mission—lest he thought he could just retrieve it whenever he liked. The thought kept him from taking the pipe home with him as originally planned. Apparently he was not going to find out its secrets just yet, Russia's either. But what about Alfred? He was not home, that is what.

One would think that after such a traumatic event they would have all forgotten about the American, but instead it increased their vigor for the search, which ended almost as soon as it began. He was not home. Not Alfred or Jackson were within either their known Virginian or D.C. residence, and just because Arthur was well beyond paranoid at this point, he called their boss. The two were at work and accounted for, apparently developing a new proposal to present before congress. As far as the globe was concerned, they were exonerated, and as much as it did not sit well with Arthur, he had no proof otherwise. Admittedly, he was glad the two had nothing to do with it, though. After all they had been through lately if the duo had been holding another secret he would be seriously reconsidering if they did truly trust him or not. That still left Arthur's quarrelling instincts. They tended to be pretty accurate, so maybe the American two _were _involved, but as future victims of the Russian's schemes. That seemed pretty plausible. Anything did with Russia at this point, but that still left the question of why he had locked them in the meeting place. Russia had just been outside the building and he had even left his pipe, which Arthur still thought meant it was quite an important task. It made no sense, all of it, and he did not have any more leads to follow. They had pretty much ended with Alfred. Sure, any one of the globe could have technically called Russia's boss and asked, but no one was that personable with the man, unlike the relationship Arthur tried to keep with Alfred's bosses, and he was rather notorious for keeping secrets himself. No one even brought up the possibility, and the search ran cold. The meeting was well over.

The nations naturally dispersed, even if a few did so reluctantly. One of said few was Arthur, who could not make himself hail a cab as he lingered on the streets of D.C. Both Matthew and Francis had recognized this immediately and had originally wanted to accompany him, but he managed to persuade them to go home, though how he did not even know. Everyone was more than a little shaken up after all, and most still doubted Alfred more than a little. Maybe this was all some weird thing that had to do with the Cold War? Was it starting up again!? Arthur supposed that it was possible that they were starting up a rivalry again. The prospect unnerved him beyond belief. Russia lost the first time, so he was bound to be coming back with a vengeance, and Alfred… Well, Arthur could honestly say he never wanted to see him like that again. He had done amazing things during this time in history, but he had been utterly consumed by it all. He acted as if he had a mental illness, and Arthur supposed it was called McCarthyism. He could only wonder what Jackson had been like during this period, and he was not so sure he wanted to find out. The whole mess then had sort of been his fault, too. They were dueling to control the power gap he had left behind when he fell as an empire. No one was left unaffected by it. The resurgence would now tear the whole globe apart as the lord of the east and the lord of the west warred against each other once more.

He suddenly felt the need to check up on Alfred once more. Maybe he could help him retain his sanity this round, but to do that he first had to make sure the American knew he was there for him, and Jackson, too, of course. That warranted another visit, it was of global importance after all. Even if Alfred was not home at the moment, he could just let himself in and wait. Alfred did it enough himself that he could not really complain. It was a perfect plan, or had been. When the entire globe had stormed Alfred's Virginian residence Arthur had been careful about revealing the location of the spare key, some of the nations were weirdoes, and had not had a chance to try it in the process. Still, he had never expected that Alfred would actually move the spare key. The thought crossed his mind that it had probably been Jackson just after he was discovered, since Arthur had not had to use that key where the two had been home, he would have never known. It seemed like something the cautious, and somewhat vindictive persona of Southern America would do. No one could ever say he did not learn from his mistakes. Well, what was Arthur supposed to do now? As tempting as it was to harass the two at their place of work, maybe it was time he go to the airport. His flight was later that evening, but he still did not have all day to dedicate to this—not without some results at least.

"One bomb pop, a cookie sandwich, caramel sundae, and a chocolate cone."

Results located.

"R-Russia!?"

Arthur could not believe what he was looking at. What was Russia doing here—ordering ice cream?! It took a moment for Arthur to realize where exactly here was. Apparently he had wandered into a D.C. park while he had been concentrated on his inner ramblings. The park was not particularly crowded or desolated, but Russia stuck out like a sore thumb regardless in his coat and scarf while he ordered from an ice cream truck. It was still summer here in America, and hot it most certainly was. In the end, Arthur supposed that it could just be the Russian being his odd self, but why was he here? He was bound to have some sort of reason. Every time he had confronted the behemoth he had some sort of reasoning to his actions, which was why Arthur had been in a frenzy all day to try and piece the puzzle together. More than once when the puzzles had gone unsolved it had ended badly for everyone, and he doubted that this was going to be an exception. That left the question of what exactly he was going to do about it. While in the past he had no qualms starting a conversation with the man ousted from his hiding place, he had plenty of them today. Quite frankly he was terrified of him at the moment. The Russian was stepping on, not just pushing, various boundaries and doing un-Russia like things, even the Cold War tension may have very well have come back. There was no way that Arthur was going to start a conversation this round. That left espionage, or walking away. Espionage it was.

While Arthur prided himself in that field, especially so in his people, he needed a little practice in that area and Russia was not the person to be doing that on. The behemoth's strides left Arthur in the dust, he almost lost him right out of the gate, and he was having trouble staying unseen without a crowd to hide in. Thankfully, the giant was recognizable anywhere and he could allow the distance between the two to grow and he could follow flawlessly. That freed Arthur's mind up to contemplate the strangeness of this all. That had been all he had been thinking all day, but it was strange! He could not shake it at all. Something was wrong with this whole day and he knew at least that it was centered on Russia. Speaking of which, really, why ice cream? And four no less? Why not just remove the coat? Even as weird as he was, surely he could see the logic of removing heavier garments when it got hot. As perplexing as that was, Arthur's instincts started to pick up again. He had a feeling as he followed the Russian into a more and more secluded area of the park that he was going somewhere dangerous, or would be. He chalked it up to being it close quarters with the Russian, but he knew there had to be more to it. The hair raised on the back of his neck agreed. This whole situation was off and probably risky. Russia was slowing his pace, they must have been getting close. Now would be the time to leave if he was going to. His nagging instincts were having him do just that. It felt exactly like it had when Russia was in his closet. He was not going to open the closet again—

"Yo, Vanya! What took you so long?"

Mission abort.

"You were the one that insisted that you get it, so hurry up."

_Mission abort_.

"There was a line, da?"

_MISSION ABORT_!

"What are you two doing with Russia!?"


	3. Chapter 3

Not Over Yet

Part 3

The American duo were sitting quite contentedly at a picnic table before they saw Arthur, but Alfred and Jackson froze before proceeding to pale at the sight of the English nation. Said nation was paling himself in panic. He had certainly not meant to do that. Russia, however, was unaffected in the slightest.

"You two are silly. Hurry, da? Your ice cream will melt."

Alfred ripped his gaze away from Arthur and narrowed it on Russia, "Vanya—"

"Da? Do you see something?"

Now Jackson was glaring at the Russian as well and Arthur's hair was beginning to stand on end again.

"Ivan," Alfred began, unusually stern, "You f—screwed up."

"I do not see how."

"_Witnesses_." Jackson growled, "You were followed."

That demonic, purple aura began to gather around the Russian, "Silly, Sonya, I see no witnesses. My magic pipe takes care of all things like that."

Arthur shuddered.

Alfred quirked an eyebrow, "Well, you missed one playing whack-a-mole. You broke the treaty, dude. Today is off and I am sending you the bill."

Up until this point Russia had been his normal, ticked off self, creepy smile and miasma in place. However, at Alfred's words they both disappeared and he was blank once again. It scared Arthur more than the first time.

"That is not fair, Fredka."

"Then you should have been more careful." Jackson replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What is even going on?" Arthur practically whispered, just barely finding the courage to speak up.

He was crushed immediately under the three's stares. Jackson and Alfred's faces began to flash through varying levels of amusement while Russia's stayed as blank as a white sheet of paper. Was he really missing something that obvious? Assuming he must have his eyes began to dart over the area. Admittedly, he had been completely focused on Russia, Jackson, and Alfred, so it was very possible that he had missed something, but once he realized what it was he had to do a double take. There had been _four_ ice creams, had they not? Sitting at the wooden picnic table, right next to Jackson, was a petite little girl. She did not look any older than six, but she had beautiful long, black hair, pale ivory skin, and luminescent—_purple_ eyes. Forget double take, a triple, no, quadruple take was in order! The violent feeling of déjà vu was back.

"Alfred, who is this?"

He looked conflicted for a mere split second before he sighed, "No use in sugar coating it—My final secret, I swear, or at least in the global consequences category."

Arthur did not have a chance to respond, but he had nothing to say anyway.

"My little sister." Russia hissed.

Both Jackson and Alfred's looks of amusement returned.

"Last time I checked, her name is Nikkita D. Jones, Ivan." Alfred challenged.

Russia burst, "I was the first one in space! She is mine. You say you won the space race, but I was first."

"No way! I was the technically the first nation in space because I was on that rocket. You just sent up a satellite. First man on the moon goes a long way because I found Nikki, and by definition, that won the space race. Besides, you already have two sisters!"

"And you have Jackie, Fredka!"

"I am so glad she has headphones in." interjected Jackson, "I swear you two are like a divorced couple and the Cold War was the custody battle. On second thought, no, that comparison is too accurate for me to be comfortable with it. Our bosses seriously tried marriage counseling to solve both your issues."

Alfred pinked at the words, but Russia was once more impervious.

"Whatever, Jackson is right, we should not be doing this in front of her"—his gaze landed on Arthur—"or him."

Russia loosened from a tension Arthur had not even realized he had put himself under, "I suppose I will visit you later today then, to discuss the treaty."

"You broke it, there is nothing to talk about."

"Or its renewal."

Alfred paused at that, once more looking at Arthur, "But you will have to get him on board with that."

Russia's smile finally returned, "That, I can do."

Jackson spared a glance at Arthur's shrinking form, "Then we can leave all the explaining to you?"

"Da."

Alfred finally had the decency to look a little sheepish, "Sorry about this, Artie, but we have to get Nikki home. You can have our ice cream, it always makes things better, and Vanya will tell you everything."

Arthur did not even have a chance to protest as the American duo made off with the child, who he was not even sure saw him in the first place. Though he supposed it was fair since he had not noticed her at first. He wanted nothing more to go after the three of them, but he had far more pressing matters to attend to in the form of a giant reaching out all four different ice creams in various stages of melting for him to take.

"You have caused me all sorts of trouble today, you know, England? Now come along, you want to learn about Nikki, da?"

Arthur eyed the ice cream carefully.

"I am not getting in any kind of white van, just so you know. I have seen more of Alfred's movies than I would like to admit." he huffed, taking the chocolate cone.


	4. Chapter 4

Not Over Yet

Part 4

Awkward could not even begin to define what Arthur was feeling seated across from Russia at the very picnic table Alfred and Jackson bolted from, eating his newly acquired ice cream very cautiously. Plus they were simply staring at each other. In silence. Was this what it would have been like if he Jackson had not visited him in the middle of that fiasco? The thought occurred to him that he may have not even got this far. Mental note: Alfred owed him both an explanation and an apology for leaving him like this, then they could get on with the matter addressing Nikki.

"You do not talk much, da?" Ivan mused aloud, "Yet you are a chatterbox at the meetings."

Arthur blinked a couple of times before responding hesitantly, "Aren't you supposed to be the one talking?"

Russia's creepy smile was in full bloom, "Not now. Now we are sitting here enjoying ourselves chatting and eating ice cream, like I _would_ have been with Alfred, Jackson, and Nikki. You are making it up to me. I had been looking forward to it after all."

Arthur managed a shaky chuckle, "I see…"

Russia frowned, "But it is not working. I thought you had a mouth as big as Fredka's."

Arthur did not really know how to respond to that. He supposed he was rather talkative and did not hesitate to say what was on his mind, but he had always put Alfred on a rambling level. Though he supposed that Alfred simply liked to ramble on, it showed he was happy, because he could have a sharper tongue with more clipped words than anyone if he wanted. The thought of both sides made him shudder. He could not rotate from such extremes.

"We can talk about Nikki now, I guess." conceded Russia at last, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Something that I know."

Arthur sighed, "Start with Alfred finding her then. Or you. However it happened."

Russia paused a moment and then nodded, "Fredka did find her. That I will admit. When he landed on the moon he saw something none of us have, the birth of a nation."—Arthur's eyes widened—"He did not tell me all the details, but I know he said it was a miracle. From there he brought her back to earth. I only found out about her existence from one of my visits to see Jackie."

"So this was back in the Cold War?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes. Fredka had just gotten home from his trip to the moon."

A thought struck Arthur, "Why did Jackson call the Cold War a custody battle?"

"Because it was." Russia stated simply, "I wanted Nikki for myself. It was not fair for Alfred to get another sibling. The space race is what brought her into existence. Without either of us it would not have happened. I think I deserve her as much as he does, even if he found her."

"So she is the personification of the moon?" Arthur clarified.

Another nod.

"Why did neither of you say anything!?" cried Arthur, rising from his seat, "This means so much! There are so few nations and if Nikkita was born from space travel, then why not others?"

"Because it was none of your business."

Arthur was a little taken aback by the words as he sunk back down.

"Alfred and I are the leaders in space. You Europeans have to share a space program and still cannot do what we can. This was none of your concern, and we were already hiding Jackson. Why not Nikki, too? That was what Fredka and Sonya wanted."

Right, Jackson had still been in hiding then, had he not? That explained why it began as a secret, but why had it not come out with Jackson?

"Why did you not say anything about Nikki when you did about Jackson?"

"Many reasons."

"Pick one." Arthur deadpanned.

"The treaty."

Right, Alfred had mentioned a treaty, too.

"What was this treaty?"

"An agreement between the United States and Soviet Russia to hide the existence of Nikkita D. Jones, or the personification of the moon. She would stay in America, but I could visit and see her if I protected the secret. If I exposed it, my country would be fined, _substantially_. There were also some passages about protecting Jackson's identity." Russia explained, "To complete Jackie's analogy, the final divorce settlement."

Arthur frowned. It really was a fitting analogy and he was liking it about as much as Jackson did.

"Is that all?"

"Where did he hide her? I mean, really. Someone has to watch a child that young or else they run off and end up living in the woods as a heathen like a certain American I know."

Russia frowned at this, "A facility in America."

There was no way Arthur heard that right, "_Facility_?"

"Yes. The personifications of nations are people and she is the personification of the moon, da? Well there is not always people on the moon. Anything really. So, from time to time, she falls into a hibernation of sorts for years on end. She just woke up recently. Until someone _keeps_ something established on the moon she will do this, and Fredka promised her that one day he would develop her so she could stay awake, but until then she could go to sleep and not wake up again at any time. They monitor her there and keep her on life support, just in case."

Arthur could feel his heart shattering into little pieces. A child so young had to live her life in fear that she was going to fall asleep one night and wake up when everything had changed, or _never _wake up at all?

"That is terrible."

"It is." Russia agreed, "But she does not act like that could ever happen. She is a happy little sunflower, and I want her to stay that way just as much as I want to be around to see it."—his eyes narrowed on Arthur—"So you are going with me to Alfred's this evening to renegotiate the treaty, and you will keep Nikki a secret."

Arthur's eyes practically bulged out of his head. That sure escalated quickly.

"But she could be so much happier if she met the others—"

"You will keep the secret, da!?"

Arthur could only stare as he watched Russia's face. He wore neither his frown nor his smile, he had his jaw set in a tight line instead. Where he expected Russia's eyes to be empty once more an icy fire of sorts burned in them. Was he—truly angry?

"R-Russia—"

"If you must know," Russia continued, "Nikki's secret was kept for another reason. All of _you_. Especially Europe. If Nikki became known you would throw all of your money into space technology and begin a second era of colonization. You would try to make more nations, and if that failed you would try to conquer Nikki, not that you would not try anyway. We do not know if space travel will produce more countries because we, nations, may be unique to earth territory, and it is believed that the moon was once the land that was removed from the earth when a meteor hit. That means Nikki could really be the last nation ever born, in space or otherwise, and Fredka and I were not going to deal with the consequences of the rest of you Europeans raging like you did in the World Wars and before, then or now. We were the superpowers this time, it was _our _business to dictate the future."

Arthur tried to swallow as Russia finally went silent to find he could not. In fact, his throat was burning so terribly that he was choking back a coughing fit he was sure would remove his lungs. The pain was so great that he was begin to tremble and his eyes were starting to water, but he could not let himself be so weak in front of Russia, not after everything he had said. Said Russian had finally returned to his previous blankness.

"Be at Fredka's house at seven or I will take you there myself, da?"

Arthur did not say anything, but he was not getting off so easily.

"Say something if you understand me." he warned, rising out of the seat and to full height.

"Yes." Arthur hoarsely choked out.

Russia paused a moment, almost as if he were to ask, "Yes, what?" but chose to leave instead. He had many things to do after this anyway, which left Arthur alone at the picnic table. The Brit had forgotten his long melted ice cream in the heat of the moment. He had not even finished the chocolate cone, and he could not even bring himself to care at the moment even if the coolness would have soothed his throat. Instead, he curled up into a ball on his side of the seat. Everything hurt. It always did when a rug was pulled out from under you, especially by someone you trusted. Alfred never meant a word he said if he had thought Arthur was a power hungry monster looking to rebuild his empire since the Cold War. Did he think that of the world, too? How would he know either way, when the man was such a great actor? Blind faith in the boy really was not cutting it anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

Not Over Yet

Part 5

"Mister? Mister, wake up!"

Arthur was not sure when or how, but he completely blacked out some time after Russia had left. Now he had a matching headache to go with his burning throat, just dandy. It certainly did not help that someone was shaking him. Wait, what? Who was that?

"Mister, it is dark. You should not stay here. If you are lost, I will help you home."

At least this person seemed kind.

"S-sorry." he choked out, feeling like each word was coated in sandpaper, "I j-just feel asleep. I will be fine."

Apparently it sounded like sandpaper, too, because while the voice stopped he began to feel something cold on the back of his hand.

"Water."

The word actually sounded like something of a command, but he paid attention to it only subconsciously as he took the bottle. Only then did he realize that he was still curled up, and then proceeded to right himself before taking a long draught of the liquid. Maybe kind was too insignificant a word for this person, Arthur began to think, feeling the relieving effects on his throat immediately. It then occurred to him that he still had yet to look his savior in the eye, much less introduce himself and give his thanks.

"Ah, my name is Arthur Kirkland. Thank you for your kindness, what may I call you—"

Arthur's words died as he locked eyes with a clearly luminescent purple in the darkness.

"My name is Nikkita D. Jones, at your service."

Arthur did not need the missing light or the introduction to know that this was the girl that had been with Alfred and Jackson. What was she doing out here? Jackson visiting him on his own freewill was one thing, but Nikkita was so _young_. If he had ever caught Alfred walking around after dark, all alone, like this he would have punished him severely. Though, he supposed he was bound to have done it anyway. The thought made him grimace. Nikkita's gentle shifting about drew his attention once more.

"Are you lost, Mister?" she repeated.

That knocked some sense into the stunned nation, "Oh, no! I know my way around D.C. Thank you, but should you not be getting home? It is awful late for someone so young to be out."

He was not quite sure how he should talk to the child. Was she even aware she was a nation, much less if he was? Either way, should he say he knew her brothers or just pretend to be a stranger? He would have to keep her a secret anyway, so maybe he should just stay a stranger. He doubted he would be visiting Alfred anytime soon, anyway—_Bloody_! He forgot all about visiting Alfred about the treaty. What time even was it?

"What about the park?" her words brought Arthur back to earth, "You sure look lost. Even regulars would be when the sun goes down. And I am home, late or not."

Arthur did not even notice the cryptic ending to her response as he realized that she had been right all along: he was _lost_. He may have known D.C. decently, but he did not even know the name of his park, much less its lay out.

"It seems you are right." he admitted, glancing around and recognizing that he could not see even a foot in front of him, "I am more disoriented than I thought."

He began to feel warmth in the hand that did not hold the cool bottle of water, "Then I will help you out. You said you could find your way then, but I could walk you home, too. It can be dangerous at night."

Arthur was not completely sure how to respond when he felt he should have been the one telling her that. Instead, he only squeezed her hand in acceptance and set off following her through the dark. He could not see a thing, but maybe she could, seeing as she was having no problems navigating. She took various twists and turns, not hesitating once, and Arthur felt a little awed. She knew the land, much like Alfred had in his youth. The thought made him tighten his grip on the little hand in his own. How many times had he lost Alfred when his hand had slipped away, again? Far too many.

"Do not worry, Vanya was in the wrong."

Arthur's eyes widened as he pinpointed the identity of that nickname.

"Excuse me?"

"He was wrong." she continued, unaffected by his question, "Big brother Alfie even told him so. Now he is mad, too, but not at you."

He blinked, trying to focus his sight on the child. He only could catch glimpses of that glowing purple, like amethysts. How he wished he could see the rest of the child.

"Even big brother Jackie wished he would have shut his mouth."

"You heard all of this?" he probed.

"I was supposed to be in bed. Jackie thinks it is inappropriate to fight in front of me so he took me to my room, himself."

Arthur frowned, "You are not supposed to eavesdrop."

"I am not supposed to here, either, but I am. And you are lucky that I am."

Arthur supposed he could not argue there, but still.

"Your brothers are bound to be worried about you."

He did not know how he knew, but he knew the child was smirking, "When they realize I am gone."

That was where Arthur's responses run dry. Alfred was bound to realize it, or Jackson one. He had figured out very quickly that Alfred had not been an incompetent older brother like he had first imagined. In fact, Arthur was pretty sure he was one of the best as far as nations went. Even so, the way Nikkita had said just made him feel as though she knew what she was talking about. The whole conversation gave him that feeling, actually. It made the silence a little unnerving.

"Big brother Alfie will not let Vanya force you into the treaty, you know." she explained, "But you have to understand that Vanya just wants to protect what is important to him."

Arthur believed the first bit, but the latter he was having trouble with, "Really?"

"Mm-hm. Vanya likes us, my brothers and I. He always visits. However, things are a little complicated with me."

When she did not continue, Arthur's curiosity got the best of him, "'Complicated' you say?"

A soft chuckle met his ears, "Yep. Good to know you are not too skeptical."

Arthur felt his face heating up. What kind of kid was this?

"They fought over me, Vanya and my big brothers. If it had just been between them maybe it would not have been such an issue, but their governments got involved. After the initial fight it was agreed that Alfie was keeping me, but they still had to have some sort of agreement between the nations. That was why they had the treaty, even if Vanya really does not mind me staying with my brothers. But now, because of the treaty being broken, so is the harmony. They both have to keep up appearances just in case the others find out, because I forever became a prize that day. So you finding out means I can never see Vanya again, and he is my big brother, too."

Arthur felt himself chewing on his lip. He was beginning to do that far more often it seemed. What Nikkita had said would have made perfect sense for anybody, _but_ Russia. That maniac just wanted her for himself and probably had her fooled. Still, she seemed quite wise for her age and he could not tell she was lying. Then again, she may have that same acting ability as her brothers. He had no idea what to believe.

"So, do you want to live with… 'V-Vanya?'"

The child seemed to pause, "Well, I would not mind. I love Vanya, but big brother Alfie and big brother Jackie mean the world to me. I do not regret that they won me, but I would not have regretted it if Vanya had either. I like how things are now, with Vanya visiting, but I do believe that he would have taken very good care of the three of us if he had won the bet!"

Arthur would have had a spit-take if he could, but instead broke into a hacking fit. It was so bad that he even had to stop.

"H-how do you—"

"They told me when I woke up, of course."

As plausible as that was with those three, Arthur was still having a hard time digesting it. In fact, he was wondering what Nikkita knew and what she did not, not to mention how. There was a major line between what she should and should not know in his opinion, but even he could not find it in his own mind. It was a little startling, actually, at how confused it made him. All he knew is that Nikkita deserved her innocence preserved as long as it could, and no one had a right to mess with that, not even herself and her eavesdropping habit. Surely Alfred had figured it out and was careful with what he said? Arthur was when he figured out just how much Alfred picked up as a child. They were practically sponges after all.

"Here is the exit, Mister."

It took a moment for him to process the words in the midst of his mental searching, but the now visible streetlights eventually helped. Finally he could actual see his little heroine. Arthur supposed she was a hero, was she not? She had saved him.

"Thank you, you are my little hero." he stated fondly, without a trace of bitterness, remembering all the times he had said the exact same words in the past to a certain someone that would be very pleased to have another "heroic" sibling.

Though, when he had said such things to Alfred he had smiled the largest smile he could muster and started giggling. Nikkita did something a little different. Her smile was soft, but incredibly warm like Alfred's sunlight smiles. It seemed, almost humble in a sense, as if she were being the one giving the compliment.

"Mister?" she began, "Do you want to know what I think a hero is?"

Arthur was incredibly curious by now, and could only bring himself to nod.

"I think a hero is someone that will sacrifice himself to give another person a chance. A person cannot be helped if they do not want it, after all. Still, even if that person was rejected, he is not that person's hero, but I still think he is a hero for reaching out a hand in the first place. That is all he can do because a person has to be their own hero, too. So, I am not your hero, Mister, you are."

Arthur could not help but blush at the implications of the words. Really, he could not make heads or tails of this child.

"I am going home now, Mister, but if you are still lost I can take you somewhere instead."

Arthur shook his head, "No, I am good from here."

Nikkita walked away a couple of feet from him before she stopped.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I will not make you agree to the treaty, either, but be nice to my brothers, please Mister. _All_ of them."

Arthur felt his heart shatter a little.

"I will, but only on one condition."

The child perked, turning her head around and revealing curiosity filled amethysts.

"Call me Arthur."

A smile that was incredibly gentle and powerful at the same time was his response, "Thank you, Arthur. Come visit sometime. I live namely with big brother Jackie, though, so you will have to ask Alfie to go get me."

And with that, she was off, leaving Arthur stuck in his stance. Only once she was gone did he figure out something that had been tormenting him the entire time. Alfred and Jackson's smiles were that of sunlight, but Nikkita's were not: they were moonlight.


	6. Chapter 6

Not Over Yet

Part 6

Starlight, sunlight, and moonlight were all types of light, were they not? Even if they were all related, they were still different. The sun was technically a star, the sun was the brightest star in respect to earth. The other star may have actually had _more_ power, but the sun would always been more visible. Then, the moon reflected the sun's light. Even if it was technically the sun's light, the moon softened it and made it its own. As far as Arthur was concerned this fit the Jones' household perfectly. Nikkita was the moon, in reality as well as metaphorically, because she made the light distinctly her own when she choose to show it. Jackson was a star, unlike Arthur had believed at first. For a while he had assumed Jackson would have had to have been a shadow like himself, but after living with him he was convinced he was too like his brother for that. However, there were many differences, especially in that he could fade into the background when he pleased. So he was a star that could very well burn brighter than the sun, but merely shimmered in the black sky. Finally, Alfred was the sun that they all revolved around, the public face of America and foundation of the household. And he was a shadow, though he supposed he was not alone in that. Matthew, too, was a shadow. He was not sure where Russia fit in, if he even could or, better yet, _should_, but he and Matthew were shadows while those three were very distinct lights. If Arthur was annoyed enough, Francis could have been a passing comet, but these other identities were undeniable. That was why he decided that he would not go through this alone this time, or, rather, who he decided to go through this with.

"Arthur, what happened, eh? Is Alfred hurt? Is that why I had to rush down here?"

Right after he gathered his senses enough after Nikkita had left, Arthur did the first thing that popped into his head, he called Matthew. Only then did he learn what time in the morning it was. Whoops.

"No, he is not hurt, but you still need to be here." Arthur assured.

"Is it Jackson, then!?" the Canadian pressed, growing even more worried.

Ever since Alfred and Jackson had gotten back home after their escapades in Europe Matthew had made it a point to keep his presence almost constant until he was accepted by his youngest brother, who had not been happy with the prospect of having another housemate. Alfred had done everything he could to defuse the tension and Jackson had been his usual civil self, but he was not opening up. Unlike with Arthur, he did not have a promise with Alfred making him try his hardest. Instead, the Southern teen made himself scarce by sticking to his own residences that no one but Alfred knew the locations of, and he was sworn to secrecy. Mathew was not going to give up, but it had been pretty discouraging until there was finally a break in Jackson's shield: music. It had been Alfred who set it up from the beginning. He had bought random concert tickets, two, with every intention of backing out and having Jackson and Matthew go together. Since Jackson had not been living in his house, it had been pretty easy for Alfred to pull off, too. Matthew would be lying if he thought Jackson was not just going to go home when he had showed up instead of Alfred, but he had not. He instead said it was a shame to waste tickets, especially if they were a present from his brother. At the concert Matthew learned that Jackson had some talent in music himself, and could play the guitar among other things. Matthew had then asked to hear him play, which flattered Jackson quite a bit if the blush was anything to go by. That was the first step in many that made Jackson accept Matthew's presence, but one thing was certain, he never once ignored it. Matthew had long accepted that he would never be as close to Jackson as Alfred was, but he was more than happy just to have the teen getting comfortable around him. In short, he cared a lot about both of his brothers.

"No, no. Neither of them are hurt, but—you will just have to see it for yourself."

That worried the Canadian even more as he followed at Arthur's heels. Did this have to do with the meeting today? With Russia, and the phone calls? All he knew is that they were heading to Alfred's house in the dead of night after Arthur had called him sounding… Incoherent. Matthew had thought he may have just been drunk, but he was plenty sober upon inspection. There was no smell of booze and he was functioning basically normal. Something was just, off, and he had no clue what. Maybe that was what was waiting for them at Alfred's house. Matthew was really hoping he had not murdered Alfred. Or Jackson. Or both. He and Francis especially had their suspicions for years after the revolution as to if he was capable of it or not. Strangely enough, unlike Francis, Matthew thought he was. One would normally think it would have been the other way around, but Matthew thought Francis was blinded by all the years he had known Arthur. He, on the other hand, was there after Alfred had left for both wars of American independence. He saw how Arthur could get, whether the man knew it or not. There was no question in Matthew's mind that Arthur could murder his brother, and do it without realizing it, which left only one question: could he really do the same to Jackson, as innocent as he was?

"Matthew."

"Yes!"

"We're here. Are you quite alright, lad? You seem a little pale."

The Canadian chuckled humorlessly, realizing they were indeed at Alfred's front door of his Virginian residence, "Never better, eh?"

Arthur quirked an eyebrow, but dismissed it before turning to knock on the door. He would have much preferred to let himself in, but since that key was gone he did not have much of an option. He would have been willing to let Alfred sleep until a reasonable time in the morning before he woke him if he could have just gotten in. Oh well, he supposed the boy deserved the disturbance in the middle of the night for the trouble anyway. Admittedly, after his conversations with bother Russia and Nikkita, he had softened a bit on the subject. Again, he felt betrayed, but he knew that the Russian liked to cause trouble and it was probably in his best interest to keep him weak so he could be manipulated. So, even if he was hurt, he had to give the American a chance to speak for himself. Plus, Matthew needed to hear himself. What on earth was taking Alfred so long? Did he have to start kicking the door in to get a response?

"Do not do that, Comrade. Everyone is asleep, da?"

A shiver traveled up and down Arthur's spine at the sound of the voice. His eyes soon confirmed that his ears were, indeed, not lying. He was starting to feel sick.

"R-Russia? What are you doing here!?" Matthew interrogated, "You did not climb in through Alfred's bedroom window again, did you? You have already got shot, twice, doing that!"

"Today makes three times."

Matthew opened his mouth to say something, but wisely closed it instead. It is not like he was going to listen anyway.

"Then why are you still here?"

"Fredka said I could spend the night since it was so late already. Something about me not leaving if he wanted anyway, so he might as well not even get out of bed."

Matthew sighed at his brother's complacence, though he supposed it was a habit as old as the Civil War seeing as Russia had been visiting like this since. He doubted he, anyone even, could change it. While all of this was going on, Arthur had gone stock still. The Brit could not make himself speak, not after everything. The last person he wanted to see was Russia right now, especially since he did not get here to renegotiate the treaty like he was supposed to. According to everything he had learned, that meant the Russia was no longer allowed to see Nikkita, which could also mess with his visits in general, and this was enforceable by both his and Alfred's governments. Did he mention that there was still the issue of the 's_ubstantial_' fine? All in all, the nation had plenty to be pissed about, and all the blame could be pinned on Arthur. Russia was definitely the last person the Brit wanted to see.

"Russia, will you please get out of the way, eh? Arthur and I need to see Alfred." the Canadian insisted, but Russia did not move from the doorway.

No, Russia's attention just moved to the silent party, "Fredka is asleep. It would be _ungentlemanly_ to wake him, right England?"

Something about the way Russia said that put Matthew on edge. Sure, Russia threatened people all the time and it was scary, but he could have sworn there was a little more ammo to this one. The Russian had said once that he had a grudge against England even if he had never said specifically what, but was this new bite really from something so old? Also, Arthur had been unusually quiet. Maybe it was not so weird that Russia was here. In fact, he could very well be a key piece of this puzzle.

"We still need to see him." Matthew persisted.

He was getting even more nervous as he thought about it. If Russia was so crucial to the puzzle it certainly was not a good thing that he was in Alfred's house. And why was Arthur not saying anything!? Was Alfred really dead? Had either Arthur or Russia killed him and they were discovered by the other? Russia would blackmail Arthur if he caught the Brit and Arthur would be intimidated by Russia if said Russian had been caught, in the scenarios of discovery. Where on earth did that mean the Canadian fit into this, the first murdered example of a dead man telling no tales? Not if he could help it.

"Just let them in!"

The voice shocked all three standing in the doorway and caused Russia to peek into the house.

"Fredka—"

"Just do it, Iv. You all are so freaking loud anyway that everybody is up."

Matthew blinked at the harshness of Alfred's voice. If he was being snappy there was a little more than just the usual sleep deprivation. He normally held his tongue pretty well unless someone was asking him to go ahead and vent. One look at the man once he was inside confirmed Matthew's suspicions. He was not a happy American.

Said American sighed, "You guys want anything, because none of you are going to see a lick of the usual Alfred until I have had at least three cups of coffee, and Jackie is not coming down at this hour unless he is armed."

When no one said anything he gestured to his living room and departed for the kitchen, not even sticking around long enough to make sure Russia let them in. Of course, the Russian did, but really, how would Alfred know? The three then took various seats in the living room, making an uncompleted square of sorts to be as far away from each other as possible and still leave room for the borderline dangerous American to do the same. Really, what had Alfred gotten himself into to cause all of _this_?


	7. Chapter 7

Not Over Yet

Part 7

True to his word, three cups of coffee later and one more to go for good measure, Alfred made his way to the living room to join his guests. However, the usual, daytime Alfred was still nowhere to be found. In his own words, the three were not privileged to his mask of pleasantry when they caused all his problems in the first place. Since when had Matthew became a source of Alfred's problems?

"Go back to sleep, Fredka. I will take care of this." Russia offered.

Alfred quirked an eyebrow, "Quietly?"

Matthew and Arthur nearly choked. He was considering it!?

"Da!"

Alfred snorted, "I bet. Like how you explained everything? The moment Nikki decides to come down here, Jackie will be right behind her with one of my guns, you know."

"Who is Nikki, eh—"

Russia's dark miasma began to gather, "Do you speak about my ineffectiveness or my methods?"

"Both, because your methods are ineffective. Let's not forget why we are here, shall we?" Alfred stated simply, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Why exactly are we here!?"

Those were the words Matthew had been waiting to say all night, and he had expected feeling relieved when he had. That was not the case. Instead, he suddenly felt incredibly awkward and vulnerable when all the eyes in the room were on him. Right, he was the only one out of the loop here.

Alfred sighed softly, "Mattie, sit down and I will tell you."

Matthew had not even noticed he had stood up earlier, and flushed at having it pointed out. Quickly he retook his seat and nodded for Alfred to continue.

"The abbreviated version of this very long story is that you are here because I not only have a little brother, but a little sister, too. The moon."—Matthew's jaw dropped—"I had a treaty with Soviet Russia to keep her a secret from the rest of the world, but he messed up and Arthur saw Nikki, my sister, and I had a lot of stuff to do today so I left Ivan here in charge of explaining everything. Let's just say he was lacking in the compassion and understanding department. So we are all here."

Where exactly was Matthew supposed to begin here? Clearly Arthur was not going to start the onslaught, so someone had to.

"Al, how could you!? Again, really!?" he ranted, "First Jackson and now someone else? How many people are you hiding from the world, from us, from _me_!?"

Everyone in that room had expected Alfred to soften from his harshness to pacify his brother. Nope.

"How could _I_!? I was in the middle of the Cold War, still hiding Jackie, and she was a nation born in space! I already had to fight Ivan over her as soon as the rocket landed, and facing the same thing from the rest of the world was just not that appealing, to either of us, so we agreed on a treaty. That is why she became a secret. The reason she _stayed _a secret was because I have not had time to even think about revealing her. Heck, Jackie has not even put in his two cents yet. She just woke up out of her hibernation not too long ago, which she slips in and out of for years on end, by the way, and I just picked her up from the hospital that was monitoring her health afterwards _yesterday _after I left the meeting because it is unhealthy to go for years at a time on life support. That was why Jackson even called me in the first place. Before that I have not had a chance to sleep between visiting her in the hospital and preparing my presentation. Even Vanya here was only caught because he has not slept in days, like me, because he was trying to get all his work done in time for the meeting so he could actually stay here a little while and visit Nikki. And, really, we went through _all_ of this with Jackson. If you two do not trust me on my reasons by now there is nothing I can do. I did what I did and I cannot do a thing about it now, but I did it because I thought I was right at the time. I am tired of being doubted for my past when I am not doubting you guys for yours!"

By the end of Alfred's rant both Matthew and Arthur were speechless. What all had Alfred been keeping inside of himself for this long? It made that familiar feeling of guilt rise up in Arthur's throat. He had been pretty selfish lately, had he not? He never once thought about Alfred was going through, even in the incident with Jackson. The American may have accepted that he deserved all the doubt and suspicion, but it still must have hurt. If anyone was being distrustful, it was Arthur. Now that was a smack in the face. Even Matthew felt similarly. He never really went off on people, but when he did it was usually the right thing to do. This had not turned out to be, at all, and the tomato red that was devouring his skin told everyone he realized that. He really did take Alfred for granted sometimes, as one of the few people that readily recognized him and put up with his sometimes pointless nagging. Even Ivan was somewhat affected by the speech, in that he was silent and frowning.

Alfred shook his head, "Look, I did not want to yell at you guys but it is"—he glanced at his watch—"five in the morning on a work day when I have not slept in"—he started counting on his fingers—"about a good one hundred and sixteen hours. You start counting after a while. And all of this"—he threw his hands up in the air—"could have been solved at seven if Ivan had just explained things normally, or I would not have even been woken if you two did not come beating down my door and waited until tomorrow instead, like _normal _people. So excuse me if I am a little _curt_."

Everyone in the living room nodded and Alfred smiled for the first time since they all had seen him that night.

"Good, so now I am going to go back upstairs to stare at the ceiling and pretend to sleep, while you three are more than welcome to stay the last few hours before daylight. Help yourself to the kitchen and fight amongst yourselves for who gets the guest room, the couch, and, finally, the floor. Good morning, then!"

Not even giving them a chance to respond he made his way up the stairs. There was an unspoken consensus that even if he had he would not have listened anyway. Arthur laughed internally at the thought. He was being far kinder than he had to right now, why should he?

"I get the guest room then, da? I was here first." asserted the Russian.

Matthew shook his head vehemently in protest and Russia's miasma slowly began to encroach on the Canadian. The sight caused the Englishman to raise a pronounced eyebrow.

"What exactly do you think you two are doing?"

Both the Canadian and Russian immediately froze and started staring at the Brit.

"You want the room, too, eh?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and moved his hands to his hips, "_No_, I do not want the bloody room."

"Then—"

"But neither of you two are getting it either."

Matthew gulped. Any and all fear that Arthur had possessed earlier was long gone because he just cut off the Russian.

"You two caused this mess just like me, and I will not be the only one making it up to him."

"What are we supposed to do, (da/eh)?" they chorused.

"Housework, of course. Jackson does a pretty thorough job, but they both have at least fifty houses each. That is a minimum of a hundred between them. Plus there are three residents, one of which being a small child that must be cared for and the other two with demanding, full time jobs. Any and all relief from this domestic work will be greatly appreciated. Now someone grab a duster and the other a broom, that is all I ask while I cover the rest of the odds and ends, and do your job thoroughly because I know where Alfred keeps his white gloves. Expect inspection."

Alfred was right, Arthur could really be a tyrant when he wanted to be. Matthew wanted to declare independence himself right about now, or at least have the choice to pay the taxes, representation in parliament or not.


	8. Chapter 8

Not Over Yet

Part 8

"It's going to suck, you know."

"I know, but I do not have another choice, da?"

Alfred ran his fingers through his golden hair and sighed. He was grateful, for sure, but it did not ease his conscience. It was a couple hours after daylight and two of Alfred's house guests were long gone, staying only long enough to see him rise and apologize before they left. His house was also strangely clean, and not the normal clean either. Jackson kept the place pristine, but it was even a step above. Alfred himself called it the "white glove clean," and that was no affectionate term. He had always made it a point of never visiting someone's home if it was "white glove clean" and was weary of that person in public. People like that tended to have some issues at least every now and again. Now that he thought about it, Arthur went through cycles of having his house "white glove clean." Alfred shuddered.

"If we are going to have another treaty, Fredka, this is the first step." Ivan continued.

Alfred nodded, "I get what you are saying, but you are going to need all the luck you can get to pull this off."

Ivan smiled, "Nyet. I will not need luck, just magic."

Alfred snorted, "Dude, magic does not exist. Say whatever you want, but your pipe just hurts when you get hit by it."

Ivan chuckled softly at this. Alfred could believe whatever he wanted but magic was very real and the Russian's pipe was magic. Even the American's own brother and sister knew, not that the two would ever tell him. Said duo where moving about in the kitchen and an increasingly powerful aroma was wafting from its direction.

"Breakfast, da?"

"You know it." Alfred laughed, "Enough to feed an army or two since both Jackson and Nikki eat as much, or more, than I do. There will be plenty if you want to stay for it."

Ivan glanced at the kitchen's entrance and caught sight of Nikki flitting between various sides of the room carrying far too much kitchenware and food each trip. She always insisted to help as much as she could. As tempting as it was, and was it tempting, he shook his head.

"No, I need to go home."

Alfred smirked, "And freeze to death? Or should I say prepare for us to freeze to death?"

Ivan hummed in response, "I suppose that works, too."

Alfred glanced back at the kitchen when a particularly loud clang rang out and his smile faltered, "You get that nothing is set in stone right?"

"Then I will set it myself." Ivan stated sternly.

The American sighed, "Whatever, it looks like you just won't listen to reason."

"It _will_ happen, Fredka. Just do your part and leave the rest of the world to me."

"That worked so well the first time." he scoffed.

"It did, actually." Ivan practically whispered, causing Alfred to sigh again.

"I said I was on board, so I am. I will not come to the next meeting."

"That is all you have to do, Fredka—"

"No it isn't!"

The two's gaze immediately fell on a determined child still in her blue kitty pajamas with a properly dressed teenager behind her, looking rather amused. Alfred immediately found himself smiling. Nikki was so adorable, and Jackson was in his own right no matter how much he hated hearing Alfred say it. Even Ivan was smiling at the child, not a trace of his usual miasma or coldness.

"What else does he have to do, little one?" he asked softly.

Nikkita suddenly looked pretty amused herself, "He has to have faith in you, of course, like I do."

Ivan's eyes widened a bit at first and his smile grew. He really should have been used to this by now. He had known all three of the Jones' household for a very long time and they all had this side to them. Light, he supposed it could be called? However, he knew better than anyone that light could burn just as much as it could heal. It was also—_addictive_. When lost in darkness you search for light and you have to have so much time in the sunlight to be happy and healthy. It was a natural thing to desire. It was natural to desire something so warm, especially when you were so cold.

Alfred flashed a toothy grin, "Of course I believe in him, Nikki! If I did not think he was capable, the Cold War would have never happened in the first place."

Jackson quirked an eyebrow, "So the world would have been safe from your football analogies?"

Alfred suddenly looked a little sheepish, "You had to bring up the worst of it, didn't you?"

"Sorry for mentioning that the entire Cold War was a time where people thought there was going to be a nuclear holocaust any second." he deadpanned, "And you two did _not _help by threatening each other with it."

Ivan suddenly started giggling and reached out for Nikki, swooping her up into his arms. The two immediately noticed that he covered her ears.

"Yes, we both know that Alfred does not play with nukes. Hawaii is technically in Southern America after all."

Jackson flushed, "That is a—"

"A technical detail that the rest of the globe does not have to know." Alfred finished, "He feels a bit of everything I do, even if he feels more after a certain latitude. He is a part of me after all, but not really a defined territory."

The southern teen sighed, touching his forehead with his hand before proceeding to shake his head, "It _hurt_, but I am not the only reason we dropped the atom bomb. Nor would it have _anything _to do with whether or not you two destroyed the world."

Alfred shrugged, earning a glare from the teen, and continued, "You were hurt worse than I was, and were prepared for nuclear war just like I was. You, too, Commie."

"Da." the Russian admitted.

"The world was one 'touchdown' away from going up in smoke." Jackson murmured, his eyes narrowing on Alfred, "If you ever try to 'pass the football,' I will intercept every time. Who even thought to call a briefcase that can launch the world into nuclear war a football, anyway? I do not even want to know."

Alfred grinned, "It does not even matter right now. So! Now that we are all significantly depressed, let's talk about something else—and give Nikki her hearing back."

The black-haired child was more than grateful to have Ivan's hands removed, proven by the fact that she shook her head like a dog as soon as she was freed.

"Finally." she muttered.

That was all it took for the three others in the room to break into a much needed laughter. It was not like their previous topic had been tense, they had long accepted it as part of their history, but it was still too serious, and depressing like Alfred had said, to be talking about at this time in the morning. Besides, they all had more positive things to be looking forward to, like breakfast and vacation time. Wait, that was just for Alfred, Jackson, and Nikkita.

"I have to be going now." Ivan confessed after his laughter had begun to calm, "No one will get in my way, I promise. See you all _very _soon."

Then Russia was gone, leaving Nikki at the doorway after a prolonged hug. Alfred sighed, taking in both the sight and the smell of various breakfast foods.

"We'll have to see about that, Iv." he grumbled, before starting the march into the kitchen.

Jackson soon followed, leaving only Nikki at the door. There she sighed herself.

"He will not win, big brother, we all will, even if I have to assure it myself."

"Nikki, breakfast will get cold!" called Jackson.

"Coming!" she cried, catching one last look at the door before galloping into the kitchen, "I am counting on you, Vanya."


	9. Chapter 9

Not Over Yet

Part 9

"So Russia has every reason in the world to make you disappear?" Matthew asked again, for the umpteenth time, and, as usual, Arthur nodded in response.

Arthur had explained it numerous times all last month after their long night at Alfred's Virginian home and yet the Canadian still did not seem to grasp it, or, at the very least, accept it. Arthur was pretty sure that any rational person would have told him already that he would die a very painful death because he was considered a terrorist in the eyes of the Russian nation, but either Matthew was too kind or too noncommittal for that. Then again, he might have just been in denial about the whole situation.

"Can you explain it again, eh?"

That was very possible. He supposed that was for the best, though. He had managed to keep a cap on Alfred's secret this time around. Matthew was too confused to do much of anything regarding the matter so he had been calling all of the shots, via phone because they were all in their respective homes, Alfred and Russia included. Arthur had actually considered visiting Alfred, especially with the next world meeting coming up fast, but had not gotten the nerve to either call or surprise him. He had not had any contact with Alfred, or Russia for that matter, since that night. Nikkita, too, actually. He had not seen Jackson in even longer. It pained him a bit that he was doing this to himself, but he just could not do it. He figured that he could just speak with Alfred after the meeting if he had to, which he did because even with common contact with Matthew, he was still so lonely. He had gotten accustomed to his frequent visits, and now that he did not have them it took its toll.

"I believe I have explained it enough times, Matthew." Arthur assured him, patting the younger on the arm, "Now come on, we should not be late."

Arthur began his walk while Matthew was stuck in place, before breaking into a sprint to catch up with the other nation.

"B-but, Arthur! Alfred knows and is stopping him, right?"

Arthur sighed, "I suppose. I have not seen either of them since."

Matthew shook his head, "How can you be so calm, eh?"

Arthur smirked in response. In all reality, he was anything but calm. Of course, Matthew and the rest of the world did not need to know that. He had spared a thought to skipping this meeting in all actuality, but he was not about to go back into isolation. It had not been as splendid as he sometimes claimed. Some things were worse than a demonic, pipe-wielding Russian. Besides, the world meetings themselves were too chaotic to foster any kind of true apocalyptic anarchy. In a sense, there were some rules to the madness even if they did turn on each other.

"Years of practice, lad." he finally answered, "Now hurry up, we may be able to speak to Alfred about all of this before the meeting begins."

And with that the two set off at a brisk pace towards the meeting building. This round it was being held in London so Arthur was the host. He had originally planned on being the earliest one there, but he had gotten involved with Matthew and lost a little time. As they proceeded through the halls to the meeting room they did not recognize any countries wandering about, which confused the two. Once actually in the room, they realized that they were some of the last to show up. Well, that was odd.

"What is everyone doing here so early?" Arthur heard himself asking, quite sure he was _still_ pretty early.

"Alfred's presentation." Germany stated rather harshly, "It has been put off twice now and by popular vote it will be the first thing on the agenda today. If you had been checking your emails, texts, voicemail, or even mailbox, you would have not only known, but would have been able to vote."

"I did not get anything." Matthew murmured shortly before completely disappearing into the background to find his seat.

Arthur on the other hand managed to look like the most put-upon person in the room, "If you really tried all that hard to get ahold of me, then why did none of my officials tell me about it, hm?"

Several nations broke into laughter as Germany gestured for Arthur to go on as he took his own seat. Arthur snorted in response, finding his assigned seat as well. Sadly, it was by Francis and—Alfred. Where was he?

"Has anyone seen Alfred?" he found himself asking, surveying the layout of the room.

Germany quirked an eyebrow, "He is not even late yet, so give him some time. He did not answer either, actually. He better be prepared."

That settled Arthur's nerves a little and frenzied them at the same time. He still felt like he was missing something as well.

"Who all is here, then?" he hissed, not in the mood for Germany's attitude.

Said German seemed a little caught off guard, but recovered well, "We have not done attendance yet, but I venture as far as to say just about everyone."

Arthur still could not shake the feeling.

"Then we might as well start the headcount already, we can mark anyone who enters the room during. Naturally I am here, so Frog?"

"Oui?"

"Germany?"

"Ja."

"Japan?"

"Hai."

"China?"

"Aru."

"Italy?"

"Ve~"

And it continued on like that with Arthur going through the list of countries. He would check off a few as absent here or there, but they were usually the ones that never attended anyway. Nothing unusual was coming up, so why did he feel so uneasy?

"And Alfred is not here yet, so that leaves Russia." he finished, "Russia?"

"I'm here, da?"

Arthur jumped at the noise appearing behind him, turning to realize that Russia had just walked through the door. How had he gotten in so quietly?

"V-very well," Arthur stuttered, "Take your seat, Russia, we have to wait on the others."

The Russian smiled, "No, this will do. I have urgent business after all."

Arthur began to feel immense dread swirling in his stomach, but the rest of the nations were curious as to what the generally quiet nation wanted to say. He normally just sat back and observed the meetings, participating only when forced or in arguments.

"Give him the floor, Arthur." chided Francis from his seat when Arthur did not respond.

He shook his head immediately. No. Something was wrong about this. He was not giving up control here. However, Russia did not particularly care about his internal debate and moved right on past him to the head of the table: Alfred's seat. One head of the table was always for the host and the other for Alfred because he would usually throw a fit if he did not get it. It just kind of became an uncontested tradition to have him there. This was just too wrong, Russia _could not_ be there.

"Listen up, I have an announcement."

He did not actually have to say that. All eyes had been on the Russian since he had entered and their curiosity held their tongues. Even Arthur could not say anything, but he certainly did not sit down.

"There seems to have been a little _incident_ involving the questioning of Russian ability."—CLANG!—"And I feel I need to remind you who exactly I am."

All nations froze, eyes firmly trained on the pipe that still sat on the part of the table it had cracked into two separate pieces. Arthur's heart dropped.

"You see, back during the Cold War I signed a treaty with America to protect something precious to both of us, and this _incident_ has called into question whether or not I can really hold up to my end of the agreement. Naturally I can, but not all Americans see it that way. So I apparently have to prove my point. We can all drink to that, da?"—Russia pulled out a flask of what could only have been assumed to be vodka and moved as if to drink from it, but poured the clear liquid all over the table instead—"What is mine always and forever will be mine, and I will not let anyone take it away for themselves. Remember, that I may not be a superpower anymore, but I do not have to be one to drag everyone down with me."

In one swift movement, Russia tossed something that shined before it hit the table. While all eyes were distracted by the light, the Russian had already slammed the door behind him. That was when they realized what he had thrown: a metallic lighter. The table immediately became consumed in flames and the nations finally roared to life in panic. Arthur instantly went for the door, twisting and pulling desperately at the knob, but it was the August meeting all over again. He could only assume that the pipe was in place once more, its black magic working against them.

"The windows!" someone screamed.

No one was quite sure what they themselves were doing at that moment, much less what others were, as the flames grew with each passing second.

"They're locked!"

"Bust them out!"

"NO! The oxygen will cause an explosion!"

"But we will die if we don't!"

"We will die either way, so I would rather explode than burn to death!"

"Ve! Germany, I'm scared."

CRACK! _BOOM!_


	10. Chapter 10

Not Over Yet

Part 10

Rapunzel. That is what Arthur felt like sitting in his home on what would have usually been a lazy Saturday evening, a book in one hand and a cup of Earl Grey in the other. Ever since the last world meeting the trend of increasing violence had caused new restrictions to be placed on the nations. They varied from nation to nation, but everyone that had been caught up in the fire now had at least one permanent body guard that followed them everywhere. Arthur was by no means an exception; he was actually on house arrest for the foreseeable future. Most of the G8 were, considering the global implications if something actually happened to them. Even his communication was being restricted to an extent. No one knew the extent of the relationship between a nation and its personification, but all involved agreed that they did not want to test it. So, he was locked in his own fairytale tower. It was just as terrible as he had ever imagined, which was to the extent that most fully grown adults spared to the circumstances of fairytales. If he really thought about it, Arthur supposed that his hair would get to the length of Rapunzel's at this rate, with his lack of access to a barber. He had cut his own hair before, but not in years. The thought made him grimace. When he was young he had once tried to grow his hair out and it had been an unruly mess. It would not have surprised him if garden shears had been unable to cut it. Rapunzel he was.

Other than his entrapment being the obvious cause of his restlessness, there was also the underlying factor of America. Not just America as in the personification, but in its entire entity. Even in the indescribable conditions the nations had been in after the fire, it was a general consensus that someone had to figure out what America had to do with this before any action could be taken against Russia. It had not been their intention, but basically all of the nations' bosses had investigated as if they suspected the two countries to have been allied. Arthur supposed the suspicion came from Alfred's past secrets and the mention of the treaty by Russia, but it was only afterwards that the personifications started suspecting Alfred's involvement. In the beginning they had all been merely worried for his safety. Now, no one was sure of anything. Arthur was included in that mass of anxiety, especially since there had been no activity by the entity of America whatsoever. The personification, president, congress, nothing responded. The only thing different was that the usual information flow from the superpower was cut off, _completely_. No one knew what was going on within the nation's borders. Russia was just as quiet. That left one major question up in the air: was there going to be an October world meeting?

Arthur was pretty sure there _was_ going to be one, he just was not going to be allowed to attend. He had already brought up the matter with his boss on several occasions, not having anything other than mindless paperwork to do, and had been given a "Maybe." "We will have to see." and "I will have to check with the other nations." every time. It made him feel like a child again. He actually wanted to attend the meeting, even with how they had been going as of late. He thought that the nations probably needed to have one now more than ever, lest World War III began. Besides, it was never a good idea to go around being needlessly hostile towards the world's only superpower, if for no other reason, because he has nuclear weapons. Any kind of international agreement does not mean much if the whole world turns against you anyway, and that was just America. Russia had got his point across just fine, he did not need to be a superpower to pose a threat. If suspicions were correct, the two were allies and were not going to have any problems fighting a war together. Arthur could honestly say that he never saw that coming.

The whole mess made Arthur ache everywhere. His head due to the complexity, his heart from worry, and the rest of his body from the memory of all the pain he had endured to this point. Age may have been turning him into a sentimental old fool, but he did not want another war, especially against the boy that had a tendency to wring him out like an emotional rag. He had already been in enough agony over discontinuing his visits to America, but now this? At this rate he would never see Nikkita and Jackson again, or Alfred outside of the battlefield for that matter. Arthur shuddered. If the battlefront ever got onto American soil he would end up staring into both a pair of luminescent blue _and_ stormy gray eyes. The first time he would ever see Jackson in a war they would be enemies. Funny how the past liked to repeat itself like that. It was Alfred's teenage years all over again. Arthur could definitely live without another one of those experiences. This child would be the death of him, they all would!

Only when that realization hit did Arthur have the will to finally toss the book aside. He had not been focused enough to read a single word, but normalcy should have been comforting. It was not. What was going on in that Alfred's mind right now? Arthur would do _anything_ to know at this point. He was desperate. Desperate enough that he had initiated a call to the frog several times in his house arrest, even. He usually had the willpower to wait for anyone to contact him instead, but that was wearing quite thin. He could not even talk to Matthew with his restrictions, though. The boy's proximity to Alfred had deemed him a security risk for a number of reasons. Arthur needed to keep his calls local, and preferably to non-G8 members. He had already broken that with the frog, which their bosses had allowed to slide, but he had not been so fortunate with the rest. Really, they could not keep avoiding the problem forever. _Someone _had to find out what was going on inside America.

That special someone always seemed to be up for debate for some reason. Arthur would have been more than happy to volunteer himself, but his boss had not been nearly as onboard, as if the house arrest did not already suggest that. Arthur could only assume that the other nations were having the same issue filling that slot, be it with themselves or some of their people, as he was. He had actually tried on several occasions to go to America, though he had always been caught before successfully being able to leave his own borders. Finding a way inside the now closed off country of America was quite a feat that Arthur truly did not believe he had fully accomplished, seeing as planes and ships that were actually allowed through were monitored heavily, but he was willing to risk everything to at least try. He figured he could always get in through Canada at the very least, if he could actually get there first.

Bring. Bring. Bring.

Arthur blinked rapidly, startled out of his internal debate.

Bring. Bring. Bring—

"Kirkland residence, Arthur speaking."

"Do you really want to go to that meeting?"

Arthur immediately stiffened. This was his boss.

"Yes. We _need_ to talk to each other. We have not had a chance in an entire month."

He heard a sigh on the other end of the line. He could tell just how frustrated and tired his boss was. The situation had not been easy on anyone.

"You know I do not like suspecting America just as much as anyone else, but if there is even a chance that he was involved—"  
"Then it is war." Arthur finished for him.

"_Then_ we are all in trouble, war or not."

Arthur crossed his arms. He knew this, all of it, but it did not change a thing. If they all let this progress they might as well have been aiding it along.

"But we cannot let this go unchecked." Arthur gritted out, trying his best to get his point across without losing his temper.

His boss went silent for a moment, before something a little surprising happened.

"What do you think happened, Arthur? Did Alfred have anything to do with this?"

It was not unusual for Arthur to be asked his opinion, but he had been so shut out of this entire scenario that it shocked him more than a little to finally be asked.

"I-I… I do not think he knew about what Russia was going to do at least. If he had anything to do with it at all, he had no idea that this was going to happen."

Arthur did not realize how sincere his words were until he spoke them. Seconds before he had no idea what he believed, but it was true: he could not see Alfred having anything to do with the fire even if he could be as scary as the Russian if he wanted to be. The boy really tried to do his best, even if he was a little misguided at times. Even when Arthur had identified a bit of that manipulative side he had come to learn about he still did not think that had changed. Alfred had absolutely nothing to do with the fire.

"Well, I believe you Arthur, but I still have to be cautious. It may not mean much, but maybe Russia wanted the world to turn against America? It is just a thought, however, I am sure you can make something of it. You can go to the meeting, but security will be following you. Good evening, Arthur."

Even after the click that signified that his boss had hung up, Arthur still held the phone to his ear, frozen. Russia _wanted_ the world to turn against America. What had they all done?


	11. Chapter 11

Not Over Yet

Part 11

After his initial realization, _nothing_ could have kept Arthur from attending the next meeting. Scratch that: stubborn world leaders could. Although his boss had approved his attendance, the actual meeting had not been set up. The meetings themselves had a rich history of being run by the personifications with little actual interference from their bosses and, seeing as this had always moved in non-apocalyptic ways before, had allowed the processes for their setting up and running be dictated by traditions founded in some of the first Allied Powers and Axis Powers meetings. These traditions were what normally decided the host and, thusly, the general location and this was through a legitimate process of a cumulated list that that had been created of countries that could and would willingly host the meetings. The list would be followed to the letter unless a vote had been called to allow otherwise. All of the descriptions up until now have absolutely nothing to do with _this_ meeting.

This meeting, which personifications were not even recognizing as a true world meeting at this point, was controlled and negotiated completely through their executives. Said executives were noncommittal hot-heads that refused to allow their personifications to leave the safety of their own countries. They all proposed certain fixes, but refused to follow through with attendance even if their conditions would willingly be met. The absolute worst of these were the G8 executives: six of which were fighting to keep their personifications in their borders and two of which were absent throughout all discussion. Those two had not been formally invited anyway, but it was generally assumed that their executives would still show after all of their hiding. That had not been the case, though, and it only strengthened Arthur's resolve to have this meeting. Apparently he had not been alone in that, seeing as the debates wore on it was noted that the executives started to bend to _internal pressure_. Whatever they wanted to call it was just fine with Arthur, he just wanted to have the meeting already. That was when word came through that they had all agreed on Spain being the host, he thought all his problems had been solved. How wrong he had been.

When this meeting actually occurred, it reminded Arthur quite a bit of Alfred and Jackson's interrogation. Due to all the recent conflict, all the nations were present this round and the meeting hall was set up in much of the way the one in Berlin had. In all honesty, Arthur was not even sure what city he was in and could not have cared less at that point. He had been on the edge of his seat the entire time personifications were filing into the room. He sat in the seats that were where he had been with the interrogation, and everyone retained that same seat except for one nation: Canada. Even if Canada was a part of the G8, it was generally accepted that China, being one of the original Allied Powers, was allowed to retain his seat with the rest of them. However, with this meeting being of great importance to the G8 in general, an extra seat had to be produced for the Canadian, which ended up being between Arthur and Francis. The Brit would have usually spared a thought to how he was glad to have a barrier between him and the frog or to how cramped the table was now, but all he could do was stare out the now empty entrance. Two very important nations still had yet to show their faces, and their shared table sat as an empty reminder in the circle. Neither Spain nor Germany, or even anyone else for that matter, was going to make a move before they arrived. The clock ticked on and Arthur's heart sunk.

It seemed completely hopeless until two figures did, indeed, show in the doorway. That was when Arthur's heart stopped altogether. Never in the entire history of all their world meetings did a human attend, much less _two_. All of the nations had taken care to make sure all of their security waited outside to continue this, even. It was rather obvious that while no one knew them, that they were one American and one Russian. The two nations' governments did not even bother to send their executives, it seemed, but probably secretaries of sorts. Still, no one knew for sure much of anything unless they asked, which was becoming a more difficult task by the second. The approaching duo did not feel the same in the least.

"Hello everyone!" began the American, "Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I am filling in for Alfred who would be here if he was not being punished right now."

"Same for Ivan." interjected the Russian counterpart.

"We know humans are not supposed to be here, so we are just going to take notes. Pretend we are not even here."

"Then," the Russian continued, "We do have an announcement _after_ the official meeting. Only if you will allow us, da?"

"Exactly, dude. It is all up to you guys."

Needless to say, the nations were not sure what to make of this. All they could feel was a general sense of wrong, especially as the two intruders claimed the Russian and American seats. As stated, they pulled out laptops in preparation for any of the nations to start speaking—and waited. After a couple minutes passing under the guise of waiting for more nations and were really for observing the imposters, about as normal of a meeting as the nations could manage proceeded. Not their normal of course. Not their chaotic or serious normal one, but a lifeless kind. It was not as if humans could not be a part of this process, but this was going too far. Most nations felt micromanaged enough under their government's rule, and interfering in what powers they did hold was not appreciated. Assembling with other nations to work together to accomplish goals, individual or collective, was their specialty and they were not about to let that be taken away.

Despite the setback of missing the two key nations for the meeting, Arthur tried his best to get something accomplished. In the course of doing that, he took over Spain's leading role of host along the way in directing the nations. He figured it was about time that he mentioned Nikkita, and though it was difficult to start, once the ball was rolling he found the details of the situation dripping off his tongue with ease. What they knew was that Nikkita, the personification of the moon, was found by America during the Cold War, specifically when he landed on the moon. Once he was home, Russia found out somehow, and the two began competing for her throughout the rest of the Cold War. In the end, the two nations' governments got involved and signed a treaty to hide her identity and sovereignty in space. That was when he tripped up a bit, before eventually admitting that he was the cause of treaty's dissolution. From there, they also knew that Russia was getting radical to deal with issue of the treaty, but America's involvement was still unknown. That was where the speculation began, and speculation there was. Arthur was amazed, and slightly appalled, by all the different conspiracies the nations were concocting once he opened the floor for discussion. The basic suspicion that the two absent nations were allied was the least of his worries. Some believed that another country was pulling their strings in the shadows. Others, that this was some sort of ploy by the G8. Another faction thought that European Union was failing and getting help to sever their ties. Some even thought that it was just a matter of time before Russia tried to kill them all. Those beliefs and countless more assaulted Arthur's ears as he tried to make heads or tails of the words, but he could not help but keep an eye on the duo typing furiously away the entire time.

"What if…" he started, trying to get attention back to himself and, for the most part, succeeding, "What if that idiot was involved."

He did not have to say who the idiot was. Most people knew by now that it was almost an affectionate term for the American. However, his words surprised the vast majority of the nations. Most would assume that he thought Alfred was blameless. It was no secret that Canada, Japan, and Lithuania did, for starters. Even France and the Netherlands had stood up for him when discussion had broken out. Even the nations that were skeptical of America mostly did not have the guts to come out and admit it.

"He kept secrets from us, on more than one occasion. Even if you count Jackson and Nikkita together, you would think when we found out about one, we would have found out about the other, right?"

Most of the nations at least nodded, but there was plenty of verbal agreement with the statement.

"It is never that simple, though. Who knows what was going on at that point in time. There could be a million reasons he should have or should not have told us."—Arthur paused again for agreement, and got it once more—"But even if that is true, that does not say he cooperated with Russia now. It means he kept a secret with him in the _past_. That means he _is_ still involved, but how involved we do not know."

The crowd once more burst into chatter, but Arthur was not willing to give up the floor just yet.

"So, what if he was involved? That means we are all in trouble, but what if—What if Russia wanted us to turn on him?"—everyone fell silent—"Then we all put ourselves in this trouble."

Arthur had no idea whether or not his words had any real impact. He was sure that many still held to some of the more abstract beliefs, but, in general, the meeting sobered up quite a bit. A few more of the present G8 spoke on the matter, but they were just as noncommittal as their bosses on this. They rehashed what they knew and what was suspected, but made no claims to knowing the truth. They did not even give any information on whether or not any investigations were underway. As far as most were concerned, Arthur had the real last words of the meeting. The official one at least.

Arthur had to hand it to them, the nameless duo did not violate their word the entire time the meeting proceeded and took notes quietly as well as faithfully. He had been self-conscious of the two the entire time, and expected that they might speak at certain points, but their tongues had been held. Admittedly, Arthur was not exactly sure that he liked their silence, especially when they had an announcement to make. Once Spain officially called the meeting to an end, to somewhat reclaim his position as host, not a single nation moved from his or her spot. In fact, the only ones moving were the duo that were putting away their laptops. They were not in a hurry in anyway, and Arthur's impatience got the best of him.

"You two had an announcement?"

"Only if you will let us, da?" the Russian insisted.

Arthur merely gestured to the globe, still glued to their seats. Strangely enough, the duo did not seemed unnerved at all with all the eyes on them.

The American was the one that decided to speak, "You guys were bound to think it was a little strange for America to close up like it did, right? Well, we had a reason for that, but our borders will be open again at midnight tonight. As for the reason—we were in the process of communicating with Russia."

"Da. We shall be resume normalcy as well at midnight. These communications between our countries have led the creation of a new treaty to replace the old one. It is basically the same thing, so nothing changes. The world progresses just as it has for years, you just know this time." the Russian finished.

Before anyone could get a single word out, the two were gone. Not that anyone could readily speak at this rate. This was one of the worst case scenarios, was it not? Arthur thought it was.

"I propose that we have another October meeting." he murmured numbly, still staring where the duo should have still been.

"Seconded."

Arthur was not even sure who agreed with him.

"A vote then?"

He still could not remove his eyes from the dark entrance.

"Motion carried."

Maybe now they could have a proper world meeting with actual answers. Arthur could only hope, especially as forms he recognized as the hired guards, none of his own yet, appearing in the entranceway. He could not shake the feeling that this would be his one and only chance to escape them. Maybe this meeting really had been more chaotic then he had thought.


	12. Chapter 12

Not Over Yet

Part 12

Chaos was an understatement for what happened after the meeting. The thought of escape that had occurred to Arthur had disappeared just as quickly as it had entered his mind—So how did he end up making a jail break with _all_ of the nations? He really had no idea. All his memories were a massive blur. Everyone just kind of started running, and it escalated from there. Nations were subdued by their own guards and dragged away, one by one, to some sort of transportation that would take them safely to their own territories. Most of them, at least. Some, like Arthur, actually made it past the onslaught, and, with no clear goal, more or less began to wander. That wandering ended up taking the escapees remarkably close to America and after midnight as well. It was only natural that they would enter the country, and that was why Arthur was trapped in a cab with Matthew, Francis, and, strangely enough, the Netherlands. That chain of events sounded about right, in Arthur's opinion.

The four more or less mutually agreed to head to Alfred's Virginian home under the logic that he had been there on plenty of other occasions, so why not now? The entire plan had been far from fool proof, but they had already gotten this far. However, their luck seemed to run out when they reached the home. Arthur could tell from a distance that Alfred was not in the building. There were no concrete details that told him, but he could not shake the feeling that the home was too dark for any one of the Jones siblings to be within it. His suspicions were quickly confirmed when Francis began his process of knocks and Matthew started searching for the key that Arthur knew was not there. The Netherlands banished any remaining doubt when he busted down the door, revealing an empty, silent, and incredibly _lonely _home. Apparently even the house itself missed its inhabitants, but Arthur could not really blame it.

"They said Alfred was being punished, eh? Then that is why he is not here, but what about Jackson and Nikkita?" the Canadian questioned, probing the entrance and glancing up the stairs.

"I doubt they would leave him alone by choice." Francis mused aloud, peering into the kitchen.

"But I do not see his boss allowing Nikkita to witness any sort of punishment. She is a little girl." Arthur countered, taking steps into the living room.

The fourth man present was known as a man of few words, but his silence was especially noticed as he went through a walkthrough of the entire first floor and not a sound escaped his lips. He even did the same thing with the second floor before reuniting with the three that had barely left the entrance.

"It is late. We sleep now and search tomorrow."

Even when this man did not stay on the first floor to enforce his order, the finality of it held the three. A slam a few minutes later clarified that the Netherlands had claimed Alfred's bedroom as his own, which left Jackson's room, the guest room, and the living room as the only other options. Arthur could not bring himself to fight for one of the bedrooms, so he merely dismissed the two others with a hand gesture and began his course for the living room. Once alone there, he shuddered. He should have stayed that day. He should not have left until he and Alfred had a proper conversation, much less with Russia still in the house. He had expected that the Russian would leave just as he and Matthew had, with or without a fight, because Alfred had said himself that he had a full day of work ahead of him. The American certainly was not the only person with that on his plate, which only added to why Russia _should _have left with them. They all had things to do and getting in Alfred's way was not going to do anything to alleviate that, which was why Arthur and Matthew left when they did. Arthur supposed now that it really should have sent up red flags. Too little, too late at this point.

"They all are just too hard to read!" Arthur hissed, clenching his fists before plopping onto the couch, "I mean, really. Why do I have to dissect every seemingly normal situation to find minute details that raise red flags? I know they can all be subtle, but Alfred and Russia sure did not hide their tension in the Cold War."

Arthur immediately glowered at his own words. He supposed that they did actually hide many aspects of it, being that there are different types of tension. Everyone had been deceived by what was on the surface, had they not? Arthur included. The whole globe did not have a clue, but whose fault was that really? The two rivals may have been the ones to keep things under wraps, but others did not really go out on a limb to investigate, either. Did no one care? Well, they cared now, but this was one of those situations where an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. It was far too late to start caring, now that the two had nuclear weapons and the Cold War was technically over. They had decided themselves what they were going to do with their power, their world, whether anyone cared or not. Maybe it was the nuclear weapons that distracted the globe? They were so concerned with the threat of the two starting a fight with one another that they did not want to see the actual complexity of their rivalry. The older nations may have always preached about experience, but experience told them nothing about how to handle a weapon that could literally destroy the entire world! So, it could have very well been possible that the two were actually disregarded in all of this. They were superpowers, not just nations, and that is all they were: warring superpowers. With that kind of hysteria, how could it have not been passed to the nations themselves? Arthur began to feel sick. What both Alfred and Russia turned into, the power gap that Arthur had left behind was only the beginning of the story, and Jackson and Nikkita were only a couple of its many complex details.

He could not stay in that house any longer. It was like the feeling he had after his first conversation with Jackson. He had to leave, but where could he go? His country was off limits for various reasons, and he doubted that it would be a politically pleasant event if he was found in another country, much less America. Even with these thoughts in his mind, he was rushing out the back door all of the same. The particularly unpleasant memory of Alfred's birthday party hit him, almost sending him back into that oppressive house with its weight, but once it cleared he felt better out in Alfred's open backyard. Something about the boy that Arthur had always known was that he liked room to run, which was why he could never see him in an apartment for at least long spans of time. All of his houses that Arthur had seen had huge expanses of land that were just there, for him to do whatever he pleased with, no matter the terrain, and the Virginian one was no exception. He usually left it undeveloped, or at least a part of it. On this property, after the large stretch of grass that made up his backyard ended, his land developed into a forest. After living with Jackson for all of that time, he could only think about how much the two loved to simply be out in nature there. Arthur could only assume that Nikkita was usually in the thick of it as well. Maybe that was the best place for Arthur to clear his head.

The cool air and the serene surroundings did more for Arthur's nerves than he thought possible. There was just something calming about the forest at night. Even the fact that he did not see any animals only seemed to accentuate that. The only real source of hesitance in his mind was because he had no idea of the layout of the forest. Getting lost would be easily done, and not so easily rectified, which was why he was at least trying to stick to a path. However, as he got further in, that was becoming more and more difficult. When it got to the point that he was about to lose the path, he figured that it would be a good time to head back to the house. Of course, that was before something caught his eye. It was a simple figure, cloaked in shadows, but Arthur immediately recognized it as not being of the human realm. It was staring straight at him, he could tell, even if there were no eyes to see. That was when he noticed that it was _pointing_ somewhere off the path. The figure dissolved into thin air shortly afterwards and Arthur was left debating on what to do. While he was quite aware that America had creatures like his fae back home, the numerous darker ones that he had not only encountered, but that Jackson mentioned, made him hesitant with any magical creature not from his known circles. He had never had much of a chance to explore this country's magic potential, and he supposed it was coming back to bite him now. Should he trust it, or go back? No, he could never trust it, but that did not mean he still could not see what it was pointing at.

In moments the path disappeared completely and he was sorely regretting his curiosity, but the more he travelled the stronger _something _pulled him. He knew it was his instincts acting up again, but their message was rather ambiguous this round. Was it telling him to see it or fear it? Was the pull natural or not? Those were only some of the questions on Arthur's mind when he noticed that he was sprinting. When had that happened? Even when he noticed he could not bring himself to stop, even as he was starting to bust through foliage, earning various scraps and scratches—until he reached the meadow. It was a rather large stretch of grass without all the trees blocking it from the sky, but what really hit Arthur was that the moment he took a step into it, the pull died. Was this where he was really supposed to be? He could not imagine why. The land seemed empty, and even emptier whenever the breeze rippled the grass. He could not even sense anything of the magical persuasion, so it was not the trap he had expected. He was just alone.

_Rustle_.

Okay, maybe he spoke a little too soon.

"A rabbit?"

Said rabbit, a clearly wild one from its brown coat color and build, stood still in front of him. It was not a rigid still, however, as its nose and various muscles twitched. Before Arthur could even think of what he felt about the apparently brainless creature, it darted faster than lightning away. His bewildered, green eyes trailed after it, expecting it to disappear into the forest on the other side of the meadow. How wrong he was. He watched it reach the tree line, but then _jump _into a blue mass. Arthur blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what exactly that mass was. The details slowly became clearer as he cautiously approached.

"Is that a hammock?" he asked, no one in particular.

At his words, the blue fabric began to shift. He assumed it to be the rabbit, which rose above the edge of the hammock and into his sight. However, it was on the head of someone else.

"Oh, hello Arthur."

"N-Nikkita!?"

Said child abruptly placed a finger on her lips, "Shh! Big brother Alfie and big brother Jackie are still asleep."

Arthur took a couple of steps forward and, sure enough, within the hammock two sleeping forms rested. He felt his heart completely calm at the sight. They just fell asleep out in the woods. Alfred was not in some obscure government holding cell or locked up in Russia's basement, and Jackson and Nikkita were right beside him like they were supposed to be. Arthur could not resist running his hand through Alfred's hair, and then Jackson's. They were real alright.

"You should thank Daisy for leading you here." the black-haired child piped up, the rabbit still sitting prominently on her head, "And that nice mister for pointing the way."

Arthur was curious as to how she knew, but figured that she was at the age where they could all see things like that. A smile crept onto his face at the thought of her retaining the ability as Jackson had. It was only then that he realized how tired he actually was. He had been running on pure adrenaline for hours, and the sun was bound to be coming up soon.

"You can take a nap here, too, you know." Nikki continued, "I am sure my brothers will not mind."

Arthur was sleep deprived enough at that point to believe just about anything without his flowing adrenaline to keep him focused.

"I think I will take you up on that offer." he mumbled, discernably or not was debatable, as slowly slid into the hammock himself.

It was hard to believe that the one strip of blue fabric could support all four of them and a rabbit, but it held up perfectly with Alfred lying in the middle and Jackson to one side and Arthur on the other. Nikkita, due to her small size, was able to curl up between brothers, but, with the addition of Arthur, she decided to claim Alfred's chest to stay in the middle. The rabbit merely remained with her. Arthur, in his foggy mind, was reminded of an ideal scene in a movie or novel, especially as he started to catch rays of sun out of the corner of his eye, and he smiled. He was not going to remember a thing when he woke up, was he?


	13. Chapter 13

Not Over Yet

Part 13

To Arthur's surprise, he did remember everything after the initial shock of waking up in the woods, and had managed not to flail about in his surprise. To his, admittedly, delight, all three of the Jones siblings were still in dreamland. It made him spare a thought to how long the older brothers had actually been asleep when he found them—How long had they all been asleep? Being as careful of movement as he could, he shifted about to gauge were the sun was, which was about the middle of the sky. Noon, or close to it, then? It was not as bad as he was expecting, but he was still in hot water. The others back at Alfred's house no doubt got up bright and early, which meant there was no way his disappearance went unnoticed. What was even worse is that it was not like he could get back on his own. He needed the slumbering siblings to guide him if he had any chance of actually making it back to the civilized world, or as close to that as their world was. That made it all the worse considering how _reluctant_ he was to wake them. He knew Alfred was not the type to wreak havoc simply because it was morning, but when he had been stressed he certainly had some bite to him, and he had no clue of the other siblings' waking habits. Jackson had normally made sure he was awake well before Arthur ever saw him at least, so he assumed there was plenty of room for him to not be a morning person. Of course, all of this about the rising habits were merely an excuse, and he knew it. He had no clue what Alfred's, especially, reaction to his presence would be and he really was not sure if he wanted to find out. The balance scale in his mind said that outweighed anything the frog could say.

"I believe this is called trespassing, _comrade_."

Arthur's body went completely rigid. He could not even bring himself to move his head to face the direction the voice was coming from.

"I know you are awake, so you should stop pretending, da?"

"W-what exactly are you d-doing here, Russia?" Arthur stuttered, gripping a handful of the hammock fabric as willed himself to look in the direction of the voice.

Plain as day, the Russian nation stood only a few feet away, but on Jackson's side of the hammock. He had his usual smile in place, as well as coat and scarf. It was like the fire never happened in his mind.

"It is natural for allies to spend time in each other's countries." the Russian stated, still not moving from his spot, "You should know, seeing as you _used_ to visit Fredka all the time."

"I _still_ do!"

Even through all of his apprehension, Arthur could not stifle the cry. He still visited Alfred, he was still his ally!

Russia did not seem at all shaken, "Nyet. You did not once visit last month, or even the month before that."

Arthur could not even formulate the words to express the absurdity of his implications. He had been under house arrest, because of this Russian, and was giving Alfred space over the Nikkita issue before that. He had no choice in the matter at the time, not when you really thought about it, but he sure did now.

"I was… _Preoccupied_." Arthur managed, through gritted teeth, "But allies forgive and forget."

"They may forgive, but never forget, comrade." Russia assured, slightly glancing over at the siblings as he spoke.

Arthur's eyes followed his and eventually stopped on Alfred in particular. They never did forget. Russia was right there, but forgiving anyway was far more important. He learned that lesson rather recently, himself. The memories of that trial made him reach out and stroke Alfred's hair before he even realized what he was doing. Why did someone so young have all the wisdom he lacked? As if the question had been audible, Alfred stirred, his azure eyes cracking open just a fraction before closing again. Arthur thought he had merely fallen asleep again, but the boy abruptly jumped to life.

"Arthur. Ivan."—his eyes could not decide which of the two to land on so they raced from one point to the other constantly—"_People_. What are you doing here—GUH!"

"Shut up and go back to sleep." hissed Jackson, more asleep than not as he recoiled his fist from Alfred's stomach.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Alfred began again, noticeably quieter, "What are you guys doing _here_?"

By this point, Arthur had shifted to where his feet were next to where Alfred's head would be if they had been lying down, but at his waist with the boy sitting up. It would have been a little awkward at the position Arthur had slept in since their faces would have practically been touching, especially as the boy flailed about. Speaking of which, even in all that chaos, Alfred had managed to move Nikkita, rabbit and all, into a comfortable position between Jackson and himself without waking her, or getting her involved in Jackson's sucker punch. The Brit could not help but mentally applaud him.

"I came to visit, of course. Silly Fredka." Ivan giggled, drawing the attention back to himself.

Alfred rolled his eyes, "More like pressure me into signing. Not happening!"—his steeling gaze swiftly moved to Arthur—"But, what about you?"

"S-same as him, actually." Arthur confessed rather anxiously.

Alfred seemed a little taken aback by that. Was it really already so strange for Arthur to come and visit? It was just two months, even if he had been feeling the effects rather drastically. Maybe, just maybe, they had as well? The possibility made Arthur want this all to go away even more. Wait a minute. Did he really forget why he was here already?

"_Bloody_—I still need to know what on earth is going on with you two, though." Arthur added quickly.

Alfred's look shifted to that of amusement, "Just to visit, huh?"

Arthur's cheeks colored, "I still came to visit, I just want answers as well—and I think I deserve them."

Alfred's mood took a nosedive.

"I signed a treaty to replace the one we lost with Russia." he explained, "You should know that much from our replacements at the meeting."

Arthur quirked an eyebrow, "I do. What I am asking is _why_. You said yourself that he broke the treaty, why do you need a new one?"

"We _wanted _one."

Arthur felt his body stiffen. He had almost forgotten that Russia was there, and his words were a chilling reminder.

"Alfred?" Arthur probed, eyes firmly on the blonde American.

Said American sighed, "Well, yeah. The treaty we had was basically a list of common rules to play by. It kept things pretty civil when it came to space, and everybody just felt better having them on paper even if we were going to play by those rules anyway. Basic things, like do not blow up the other guy unless he is trying to blow you up. We did the same thing this round. It is no different than having the rulebook with chess. You feel better because it is there, but you do not need it. The most important thing, though, is to protect Nikki. Even if the secret is out, we both protected her this long so it only makes sense that we continue to."

"But that does not make any sense when you were so opposed earlier!" Arthur insisted, "You did not want to renegotiate the treaty."

Alfred began to run his fingers through his hair, "Of course not! These rules were made with the _Soviet Union _during the Cold War. Even if we play by them now, we have changed the way we played the game so much. Now that we finalized the same rules again we could revert back to the original game at any time, especially since it is out in the open this round. If we had to, I kind of wanted different rules."

"Then _WHY_?!"

"Because I tricked you, da? Or should I say manipulated?" Russia interjected, taking his first steps toward the hammock the entire time he had been there.

Arthur felt his heart stop, and then proceed to crack when he saw the first look of genuine hurt on Alfred's face that he had seen in a while.

"Did you _all_ really have to turn on me?" the American asked rather quietly.

Before Arthur could say anything, Russia cut him off, "Yes. Your boss is so stubborn, just like you, that I do not think he would have agreed if you even had one ally. Besides, I had to involve my own boss just as much in this. It was the only way for either of them to even think about a treaty. You know that, Fredka."

"It's true." Alfred murmured, "Neither would be happy about the treaty being broken, but they would be doing things far from trying to create another to mend the rift! We were all under pressure and had to do s_omething_. I did not have time to create the new rules I wanted. I did not have time for anything. My schedule has been completely packed every single day since that stunt. Him, too."

Arthur could not have held back his next words if his mouth had been sewn shut, "So if I had taken control of my government, none of this would have ever happened?"

"Da—"

"Knock it off, Ivan!" Alfred snarled, before looking Arthur square in the eye, "Look, no one knows, but probably. We were well tuned in to what all the other countries were doing, so we would have known, but do not think I am saying you should have. I _was_ involved. I had no clue he was going to set the meeting place on fire and trap you guys there—I would have never let that happen, and you have to believe me there! But I did let him handle getting everyone on board for a new treaty, because convincing both of our governments seemed impossible, but he said he had an idea. So, I did as he asked, and did not go to the meeting that day. Heck, I even went all the way to Moscow because the plan was for him to deal with all the whiplash of what I assumed would be warning you guys about the treaty. No one was supposed to be able to find me for the first little while, which really added to this. Jackie and Nikki were with me the entire time, of course."

Arthur had no clue what to say. He had been right after all. If only he had come to the conclusion earlier. How could he ever think that Alfred had anything to do with the fire? He raised the boy and then burned his capital. He knew better than anyone that Alfred, and Jackson, too, for that matter, understood the pain of fire. Neither would have consented to it, and yet, here they were.

"You're so loud!" Jackson growled as he began to shift from sleep, "I swear if you are playing with squirrels again, Alfred, so help me I will—"

"I was depressed and in _Russia_!" Alfred cried, "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Hush! If you wake Nikki, then we've all had it."

It was only then that the teen realized he had company, one of which was even in his own hammock. He was noticeably shocked, and rather displeased once it faded. However, instead of complaining he merely pulled Nikki and her rabbit into his arms and sat up shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

"What did I miss?" he quizzed, politely, though rather gruffly.

This time, both Alfred and Arthur opened their mouths to answer, but were beat to the punch.

"How America almost ended up in isolation again, da?"

Arthur's eyes widened.

"I repeat: I was depressed in _Russia_."

"Depressed?" Jackson scoffed, "More like full on meltdown. We worked the cost of your _remodeling_ of Ivan's office into the treaty. It was finished besides the signatures, and we had to go in and add that last minute! It is why we got nothing from the compensation promised in the first treaty."

Russia chuckled softly, "My office has needed remodeling for a while. No big deal."

"See! No big deal." Alfred argued, but one look at Jackson's unconvinced face sent him in another direction, "Besides, excuse me for needing a mental health day."

Jackson sighed and conceded, "That you did need, without a doubt, but if I have to run the country, then I am doing it my way."

Arthur's eye twitched. He had a sick feeling that he knew where this conversation was going.

"Don't I know it." Alfred whined, "I get no more sick days without you signing that paper in my place. I am not going back into isolation, Jackie, never! Even if that means going in to work with the plague."

"That is not fair, Fredka." chided the Russian, "Jackson spent a lot of time drawing up the document and lobbying potential voters in Congress. You should just sign the papers, da? I have a copy with me."

"I knew that was what you were really here for, Commie! Get it through your head that Jackie plans to use you until he can cut you out completely."

"You will be well protected by Russia."

"We can protect ourselves just fine!" the two Americans chorused.

"At least the threat pulled you out of your depression." Jackson mused aloud, "If not you would still be depressed, in Russia, and playing with squirrels—And I would dealing with the rest of the world. Everybody loses."

"Why were you able to make friends with the squirrels when a hamster would not be my friend, Fredka?" inquired Russia, his malevolent miasma starting to consume him, "They were _my _squirrels."

Okay, after the comment about the hamster with Russia, Arthur knew that the three were forgetting he was even there. Of course, he was fine with that. He could only manage to half listen anyway at that time. What had all transpired in the month he had not been able to keep up with America was not only astonishing, but disturbing. Hard to digest was not even understatement level.

"Animals just love me, dude." Alfred elaborated, "Besides, Russian rodents are crazy! You could make friends with any American hamster you want."

"But it even liked Jackie, da? When he kept knocking it off his head!" the Russian persisted.

"Nikki and Jackson share those genes with me. The proof is right there."—he pointed at Nikki's rabbit—"Daisy was originally wild."

"Da, but—"

"Just let me get you an American hamster!"

"What is with the obsession with common vermin!?" Jackson burst, glaring at the arguing pair.

"Sonya, I thought you liked animals?"

Alfred laughed, "He does, just not the ones that he thinks are pests. A.K.A. Daisy. She is one of the many rabbits that I keep at my house in Virginia, but she always escapes, goes to Jackie's house, and eats his garden when she passes mine right up."

"That is not funny. Two hundred and seventy three rabbits that had to be taken to the vet and split up between our houses, all because you refused to return any of the ones Nikkita caught back to the wild. Which is another reason I want you to stop with the squirrels. The last thing we need is for her to catch a bunch of those, too." Jackson deadpanned, "Imagine if I had not gotten them all fixed, which was quite a bill might I add, how many garden pests we would have then."

"Hey, they were a birthday present. It would have been rude to let them go, and you know it. Nikki really wanted to surprise me that year. Besides, it is nice to have a pet at every place."

The mood suddenly went tense Arthur was at an immediate a loss as to why. Even Russia seemed rather rigid with the two brothers. He figured that at least one of them would not have stiffened to such a degree. They all seemed quite statue like, and silent for that matter. But wait, he could hear something. A yawn?

"They come visit me anyway. That is why Daisy eats Jackson's garden instead of Alfred's, I am there."

Arthur's eyes narrowed on Nikkita and he quickly realized that all of the other eyes were on her, too. The small child yawned again before her stomach growled.

"Jackie, I am hungry and Daisy wants carrots for breakfast."

The three loosened up as soon as her stomach growled and let out a collective sigh—of relief?

"She woke up naturally. Thank goodness." Alfred muttered under his breath.

"Da. She is scary when we wake her up." Russia added.

"We can eat soon, but Daisy has eaten enough carrots out of my garden to last her a lifetime, not to mention everything else. Pellet food is good enough for her breakfast." Jackson insisted, repositioning the child so she could see the guests from his lap.

"Morning Vanya, Arthur. Want to join us for breakfast?" the child asked, pulling the rabbit closer to her with a small yawn.

They had all been afraid of that?

"I would love to, my little sunflower." Russia answered promptly.

It took Arthur a moment to get his bearings about him. He needed to get out of the woods and back to Alfred's house anyway, might as well wait until they were all safely there to say that there were intruders waiting for them. Breakfast sounded really nice about now, regardless.

"It would be an honor, Nikkita."

Alfred laughed heartily, "Let's get out of these woods and go eat then. Maybe with you there, Artie, these two won't pick on me as much."

"Doubt it." Nikkita giggled, affectively popping his bubble.

Alfred began to pout, "Hey, I can always hope. Besides, the more the merrier."

Arthur really hoped he meant that as they finally left the hammock and crossed back over the tree line. It would be another long day if he did not.


End file.
